PORTSMOUTH – Women's tennis recently announced its spring portion of the schedule. The Bears will take part in 12 competions during the upcoming months of March and April. Of those competions, the Mid-South portion of the schedule will account for nine of these matches. In what looks to be a tough schedule, five members of the Mid-South Conference were either ranked or receiving votes in the Preseason Coaches' Top 25 Poll.

The season begins in just under a month at No. 22 Cumberland University on March 2. This will kick off a string of seven straight MSC matches to begin the 2013 season. The first home match of the spring will be on March 13 against St. Catharine. Two more road matches at Pikeville (Mar. 17) and the University of the Cumberlands (Mar. 23) will then follow. Cumberlands was receiving votes in the NAIA Preseason Poll. The month concludes with a home date against Bluefield on March 25.

April opens with three straight road matches. The first two will see the Bears travel to MSC foes UVA-Wise (Apr. 6) and Georgetown (Apr. 8). Georgetown was also receiving votes in the NAIA Preseason Poll. Starting on Friday, April 12, the season will end in a frenzy as the Bears will play six matches in the span of seven days. More matches could be added on at the end if the team wins its quarterfinal match of the MSC tournament.

That stretch will start with the first non-conference match of the season at Midway on April 12. The Bears will be looking to avenge a 6-3 defeat to Midway during this past fall. The final two regular season conference matches will take place on April 13 and 14 when Campbellsville and Lindsey Wilson come to Portsmouth. Campbellsville was ranked No. 12 in the NAIA Preseason Poll while Lindsey Wilson looks to be the preseason favorite as it was ranked No. 4. The regular season will conclude with a home-and-away series with Central State. The Bears will travel to Central State on April 16 before playing the home match on April 18.

Sometime during that same week, SSU will take part in the MSC quarterfinals which will be played at the higher seeds' home courts. That match could take place on either April 15 or 17. Should the team win and advance, the semifinals and championships for the MSC Title will be played on April 19 and 20 in Lexington, Kentucky.

Tennis won three matches last season but was shutout during the conference portion of the 2012 schedule. The 2013 season will be the first for head coach Rob Appell.